There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
by hotelchelsea
Summary: Laura whispered to the broken man she married as he slept, his face still damp with tears. "I'm not gonna leave you. No matter how screwed up things are. I vowed that we would get through anything that came in our way together, and we're going to do that."


**1966**

* * *

><p>Richard Chambers arrived home just past five in the morning. Drunk as usual, he slammed the door of his old Ford convertible and left the keys in the car door. He stumbled across the lawn, tripping over something that caused to him to plummet to the damp ground below him. He heard a crunch and his stomach twisted into knots. He waited for the excruciating pain that would come from whichever bone that had decided to break.<p>

It took a minute for him to realize that he hadn't broken anything. "Fuck." He growled, getting back up to investigate. What used to be some sort of plastic truck, was broken into a bunch of sharp pieces on the front lawn."_Why the fuck doesn't that boy ever listen to us?" _He thought to himself, _"We always tell him to bring his goddamn toys in and he never goddamn listens. This ain't my fault, this is his."_

He finally reached the front door and as usual it was unlocked. Laura knew now to keep it open for him because it had been a good month now that he'd been coming home at this time. Expecting Laura to have locked the bedroom door and have the couch ready for him to sleep on, instead she was sitting there wide awake in her silky blue nightgown, her delicate collarbones poking through her pale skin. Sometimes he'd forget just how beautiful she was.

He opened his mouth to ask her why she was up, but she spoke first. "This has got to stop." Her tone was serious and a bit frightening, even to Richard who was pretty ballsy even when he was drunk.

"I know." He slurred, not really listening to what she was saying. He needed to get to bed, they could talk in the morning. "Lets talk about this later huh?" He went to kiss her cheek but she moved away.

"Ritchie…." She sighed, standing up. "I'm serious."

"I know you are."

"I'm really worried about you…" The fearful look in her eyes made Richard want to scoop her up and hold her all night, but he hadn't been able to do that for a while now. He'd never been around.

"Don't be worryin."

"You're drinking again" Laura's voice started to shake, she was at her wits end. She hated seeing the man she fell in love transform into another person she barely recognized. It made her feel a sense of panic that she couldn't stop it. "You promised me… you promised us."

"I just lost my fucking job. This shit ain't easy for me." Richard snapped at her.

"I know it's not easy. You know why? Because I never know where the hell you are. You know what else isn't easy?! Having to explain to our five year old son almost every night that I don't know where his Daddy is."

"Whatever." Richard mumbled.

"Whatever, huh?" Laura said, "Well, that's just really fucking great isn't it?"

"What do you want me to say?!"

"Nothing. Just go to bed." Laura shook her head, tears flowing down her pale cheeks. She placed a hand on her swollen stomach, hoping to god that the stress and depression she'd been enduring lately wasn't taking a tole on the baby.

Richard trudged up the stairs and towards his bedroom, but before he could head to bed, the open door to his son Kevin's room had stopped him. He stood in the doorframe and watched his child sleeping soundlessly, his small frame rising up and down with each breath. He looked so precious that he was afraid to touch him. It frightened Richard sometimes how strong the resemblance between him and Kevin was. The dark curly hair and the stocky build, the same signature smirk that had won over Laura's heart in the first place. The blazing blue eyes.

Richard bit back tears as he left the room, closing the door behind him. One too many shots made him an emotional drunk, but he knew it wasn't just the alcohol. Not only he had lost his brother and now his job, but he could feel his family slipping away too.


End file.
